Category: The Seattle Times

The Taiwanese government rented out Seattle’s Pier 58 to throw a big party…. Thanks, Taiwanese government, we’ll be there! Admission, music and activities are all free; bring money for food.Here’s a link to my story in the The Seattle Times:https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/events/seattles-pier-58-to-host-a-taste-of-a-taiwan-night-market/

Are brown lawns a do or don’t? In Seattle, it’s a do… with caveats. I wrote and photographed this week’s Seattle Times At Home cover story about best practices for lawns (including setting your lawn up for success when the rainy season starts again) or even forgoing a lawn altogether. Link here:https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/at-home/brown-lawns-in-seattle-do-or-dont/

One of the perks of writing for the At Home section is I get to ask nosy questions. The mantra of professional organizers is “Throw it away!” so it got me curious, what do organizers KEEP? Or do they live in empty houses?? I was surprised by the answers. Some were funny and practical, some…

Chicago Day 4: Last day! Made the most of it at the Shedd and a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

Chicago Day 3: We covered a lot of ground! Massive photo dump. Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. So nice we went twice. The upside of staying two blocks away, we hit the Bean early in the morning when hardly anyone else was there. The Rookery is another Frank Lloyd Wright stop, and again, deeply disappointing.…

Chicago Day 2: the Bean, Griffin MSI, Robie House, University of Chicago The Bean, aka Cloud Gate, was closed for renovation our last trip, so we were anxious to see it this time. Big shiny jelly bean, it did not disappoint! MSI is Chicago’s version of MOHAI. There’s even a diorama of Seattle inside! You…

Chicago Day 1: Art Institute Paul was born with a big ol’ chip on his shoulder because his birthday falls two weeks after his brother’s. The nerve! So for Paul’s birthday, we did a whirlwind 72 hours in Chicago. (The stars happened to align this year for some fun trips, I warned the kids NOT…

One perfect day in Vancouver: Science World, Aqua bus and Granville Island. Every year I ask the kids if they want a party or a trip for their birthday, and invariably they choose a trip. For Joseph’s birthday, we drove across the border and did all his favorite things. We did not eat out one…

Well that was… anticlimactic. We went to check out the hot air balloons at Seattle Center, along with a surging bridge-and-tunnel crowd. I thought the balloons would be illuminated like the pretty WildLanterns at the zoo; Paul thought they would fly. They did neither. Instead, the balloons just went hiss! and pooof! every once in…

Do tacos taste better when they’re from a sketchy sidewalk stand? When the hours are erratic and it’s cash only? Maybe it’s the thrill of the chase, maybe it’s the heat of the trompo and the self-serve buckets of toppings with questionable hygiene. Tacos La Cuadra opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant on 15th at 73rd, near…